Two new novels by popular authors follow the ups and downs of a beautiful woman's life. Unfortunately, both books are disappointing.

Two new novels by popular authors each follow the ups and downs of a beautiful woman's life. Unfortunately, both books are disappointing.

Belva Plain has moved on from her saga of the Werner family to tell the story of Jennie Rakowsky in Blessings. Jennie seems to have it all: a rich, handsome fiance, Jay, who truly loves her, and a challenging job as a lawyer defending the poor and deprived.

But Jennie has a guilty secret - a teen-age pregnancy that led to her giving up the child for adoption. Nineteen years later, that child wants to meet her. Not only that, the father of the girl turns up to stir up Jennie's life, too.

Jennie is afraid Jay will dump her if he finds out about the child, and, indeed, that's what happens.

He assumes the worst about everything and drops her like a hot potato. Still, Jennie manages to establish a relationship with her daughter, and true love wins out in the end.

The most disturbing thing about Blessings is that Jennie's guilty secret just isn't that awful. Why wouldn't Jay understand? Why does she keep it from him? Was this book written in the 1960s? Only Plain knows.

Talent was written by Howard and Susan Kaminsky, who wrote The Glow and The Seventh Child under the pseudonym Brooks Stanwood. Maybe they should have kept the pseudonym.

Talent focuses on beautiful Allison Morton, who is the niece of Gus Morton, king of the talent industry. He is the driving force behind Universal Talent Management, and Allison is his sole heir.

After graduating from law school, Allison joins the business and quickly learns the back-stabbing nature of the job. She's got more enemies than money - and she's got a lot of money.

Talent's problems start with Allison. She is spoiled, selfish and unsympathetic. When Gus dies, she takes over the business and manages to keep control of it despite all those who try to wrest it from her. But her triumph is something you can predict from the beginning - and you might even wind up rooting for her to fail instead.